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Former S. African leader Nelson Mandela undergoes gallstone surgery

Former South African leader starts second week in hospital

By The New York Times New York Times News Service

Posted:
12/15/2012 11:08:18 PM MST

Updated:
12/15/2012 11:09:01 PM MST

BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa -- Nelson Mandela, South Africa's ailing former president, had surgery to have gallstones removed, the government said on Saturday, as he began his second week of hospitalization.

Mandela, an icon of the struggle against apartheid, was South Africa's first black president, elected in 1994 after being released from prison, where he spent 27 years for his efforts to end white rule.

Mandela is now 94 and frail; this is the second time he has been hospitalized this year. Officials said that Mandela was flown to Pretoria on Dec. 8 to be treated for a lung infection.

"Tests revealed that there was a recurrence of the lung infection and that Madiba had developed gallstones," the government said in a statement released Saturday, referring to Mandela by his clan name. "The medical team decided to attend to a lung infection before determining when to attend to the gallstones."

An endoscopic surgery to remove the gallstones was successful, the statement said.

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